Running With Perseverance

Home Sweet Home With Fit Stanley

Posted on September 19, 2011 by Coco

Before Fit Stanley heads off to his next host, I wanted to give him a tour of my gym, which is conveniently located in my basement.

There are no time limits on these cardio machines (other than my sanity).

(Precor Elliptical)

(LifeFitness Treadmill)

Fit Stanley can do lots of different exercises on the Bowflex.

But I still prefer my free weights.

I have lots of fitness workout DVDs for Fit Stanley to choose from.

And even a few tried-and-true VHS tapes.

Of course, Fit Stanley loves the FitBall and foam roller!

I’ve been building my home gym over the past 10 years, and know I’ve gotten my money’s worth. I started with the VHS tapes and added free weights set by set as I got stronger. After a few years, I invested in the treadmill so I could run without leaving my kids alone in the morning. A few years after that, I got the elliptical when a (non-running related) knee injury kept me from running for a while. The Bowflex was my husband’s idea, and even my son uses it occasionally. From time to time I add new “toys” to help keep myself motivated, but most days I still prefer my basic cardio and free weights routine.

Do you workout at home?

Do you want to host Fit Stanley next?
(I’ll be reviewing his itinerary this week and sending him off this weekend.)

Posted in Fitness | Tagged Bowflex, Elliptical, Fit Stanley, Gadgets, Home Gyms, Life Fitness, Precor, Running, Treadmill, Weight Training | 9 Comments

Training Log–Army Ten Miler (Week 2)

Posted on September 18, 2011 by Coco

Welcome to my week 2 training log for the Army Ten Miler on October 9, 2011. (You can see how I kicked-off week one here).

My main goal for the ATM is to cross the finish line smiling, which is no small feat for this particular event! Based on past performance, I should be able to keep a 9:00 min/mile pace, even with my nagging ITB and piriformis issues.

Week 2 was spent on the road as I finished my 10-day, 3-city business trip. I am proud to say that I managed to workout every day!

Monday–Treadmill Virtual Track Workout (1/4 mile laps)
Lap 1: walking warm-up @ 3.5 mph
Laps 2-3: running warm-up @ 5.7 mph
Laps 4-5: running warm-up @ 6.0 mph
Lap 6: running ramp-up @ 6.3 mph
Lap 7: running ramp-up @ 6.5 mph
Laps 8-11: tempo run @ 6.7 mph
Laps 12-17: 1/4 mile repeats @ 7.0 mph with 1/8 mile recovery at 6.0 mph
Lap 18-19: running cool-down @ 6.3 mph
Laps 20-21: walking cool-down @ 3.7 mph
Total distance = 5.25 miles

Tuesday–Elliptical + Weights
30 minute random elliptical program
30 minute full body free weights routine:
deadlifts/military presses
plie squats/tricep dips
lunges/bicep curls
squats/front and lateral raises
push-ups/crunches

Wednesday–Treadmill 5K
warm-up: 10 min walking @ 3.7 mph
wake-up 5K: 1st K @ 6.0 mph, 2nd-3rd K @ 6.3 mph, 4th-5th K @ 6.5 mph
cool-down: 5 min walking @ 3.7 mph
I had to check out @ 7:00 am, but got up before 5:00 to fit this in!

Thursday–Elliptical + Weights (same workout as Tuesday, but at a different hotel!)
30 minute random elliptical program
30 minute full body free weights routine:
deadlifts/military presses
plie squats/tricep dips
lunges/bicep curls
squats/front and lateral raises
push-ups/crunches

Friday–Lake Michigan Long Run
My work colleague/friend join me for a sunrise run along Lake Michigan. We started at the Chicago Art Institute, ran south to and around the Adler Planetarium, back north to and around the Navy Pier, and back to the Chicago Art Institute.
Total Distance: 7.25 miles
Total Time: 1:10
Avg. Pace: 9:40 min/mile
Split Times: 12:11, 9:33, 9:09, 9:27, 9:15, 9:31, 8:49, 8:35
I wonder if I left my Garmin running at a traffic light during that first mile?

Saturday–Quick Elliptical Workout
31 minutes random elliptical program
I had to give a presentation at 7:30 am, but knew I would be more awake if I got my heart rate up with a quick workout first, so I squeezed this in!

Looking back on the week, I am proud of how I fit daily workouts into my busy schedule. The one thing missing from the week is yoga. I did bring my Rodney Yee DVD along, but my new laptop doesn’t have a DVD player, and none of my hotel rooms had DVD players.

I’m looking forward to week 3 at home with cooler weather!

Posted in Fitness, Training Log | Tagged Army Ten Miler, Business Travel, Friends, Hotel Gyms, Long Run, Running, Treadmill Workouts, Weight Training | 8 Comments

TGIFit Stanley

Posted on September 16, 2011 by Coco

It’s been a long week–thank goodness I’ve had Fit Stanley to keep me company! Yesterday brought me to the third hotel in the third city of this business trip. By coincidence, it’s the same brand as the second hotel, so things are oddly familiar (the bedding, the shampoo) but still quite different (the decor, the layout).

This decision point looks familiar!

My body no longer knows what day it is, let alone what time it is, so I wasn’t really surprised when I woke up at 4:00 am, until I realized that it was 2:00 am in the time zone I had just left. Still, Fit Stanley and I were not the first to hit the gym. (I think we were third.)

My plan for today was to do my elliptical + weights routine.

There was no time limit on the cardio machine, but I knew this mountain wouldn’t be as fun to climb as the one we hiked last weekend. I did like that the program used 10 second segments–a hard interval was over before I noticed just how hard it was.

There was a full set of weights, but I hate this style. They are unnecessarily large and cumbersome!

I did my usual weight routine, minus the bowflex and floor exercises:

deadlifts/military presses
plie squats/tricep dips
lunges/bicep curls
squats/front and lateral raises
push-ups/crunches

Since there were no 8 lb. weights, I used 10 lb. weights for front and lateral raises, and was pleased to see that I could do 3 fulls sets of 8 reps!

Being downtown in a big city, we had plenty of options for our post-workout Starbucks.

I was meeting a friend for breakfast at 9:00 but it was only 6:30, so I also got a banana and chocolate milk to refuel. (We met at Panera, so I got to enjoy my other favorite on-the-go breakfast sandwich later.)

Do you have any fun plans for this weekend?

Posted in Fitness | Tagged Elliptical, Fit Stanley, Hotel Gyms, Starbucks, Weight Training | 2 Comments

Fit Stanley Breaks The Rules At The Marriott

Posted on September 15, 2011 by Coco

Another day, another hotel gym for Fit Stanley to check out!

Decisions, decisions!

This hotel has a very nice, well-equipped gym, but Fit Stanley isn’t sure we can get our workout done within this time limit.

Since it was only 5:15 am and there was a bank of treadmills, we decided to see how long we could g0 before the gym filled up.

The treadmill screen had a track layout, so we made up a virtual track workout, based on 1/4 miles laps instead of set time intervals:

Virtual Track Workout
Lap 1: walking warm-up @ 3.5 mph
Laps 2-3: running warm-up @ 5.7 mph
Laps 4-5: running warm-up @ 6.0 mph
Lap 6: running ramp-up @ 6.3 mph
Lap 7: running ramp-up @ 6.5 mph
Laps 8-11: tempo run @ 6.7 mph
Laps 12-17: 1/4 mile repeats @ 7.0 mph with 1/8 mile recovery at 6.0 mph
Lap 18-19: running cool-down @ 6.3 mph
Laps 20-21: walking cool-down @ 3.7 mph

(I got to my cool-down before all the treadmills were taken, and by the time I finished the first cool-down lap, several other treadmills were open, so I don’t think I kept anyone from their workout.)

After a bit of stretching, it was time to get some coffee.

While I cooled off, Fit Stanley found a palm tree to play in.